This Is the Arsenal Hitting Mali’s Militants

By air and by land, the French military is on the attack in the embattled West African state of Mali. Ten months after the takeover of the country's north by al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic militants, a sudden assault by rebel forces toward the capital of Bamako on Friday provoked a powerful response by France, Mali's former colonial ruler.

French drones scouted targets as warplanes dropped bombs and helicopter gunships launched missiles. Tanker planes supported the aerial armada while rented and borrowed airlifters hauled in troops and armored vehicles to Bamako. On Wednesday French and Malian ground forces headed north from the capital to do battle with the militants.

"The real question is, now what?" said Army Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command. The Pentagon is considering adding it own drones and support forces to the French "Operation Serval," but U.S. leaders are understandably reluctant given the tenacity of rebel resistance and the potential for a drawn-out conflict.

What follows are the 10 most important weapons of the fighting so far in Mali. Most of them are French, although Paris' allies and one private company have also contributed hardware. If the war drags on much longer and the U.S. gets involved, the major weaponry of the Mali war could start looking a lot more familiar to American audiences.

Above:

Franco-Drone

The French Ministry of Defense operates just a handful of drones, including the Harfang, a version of Israel's Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The Harfangs have stayed busy supporting French forces in Afghanistan in recent years, but with France on its way out of that country, the drones became available again. Last fall Paris reportedly deployed unspecified UAVs to southern Mali to monitor rebel troops controlling the north. The drones undoubtedly helped locate targets in advance of a potential large-scale intervention. "It is no secret that there is military planning going on," an unnamed diplomatic source told The Guardian at the time.

Photo: French Ministry of Defense

Tiny Gunship

Rebels made the first move on Friday, attacking the town of Kona on the border between north and south in a convoy of up to 200 vehicles. French helicopters — apparently gun- and missile-armed Gazelles — swooped in to blunt the attack. The diminutive two-man copters succeeded in turning back the militants, but at a cost: One French pilot died when small arms struck his aircraft.

Photo: French Ministry of Defense

Night Bomber

France has long maintained a small aerial contingent in Chad, a Central African nation within quick flying distance of Mali. Four single-engine Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers fitted with infrared-capable targeting pods and laser-guided bombs, depicted above in the days before the fighting, launched from N'Djamena in western Chad on Friday night and hit rebel facilities in Gao and other cities and towns in northern Mali. The Mirage 2000s maintained a steady pace of bombing runs as reinforcement aircraft arrived from France.

Video: French Ministry of Defense

Super Fighter

The French air force's latest jet fighter, the twin-engine Rafale, quickly joined the Mirage 2000 in combat over Mali. Six Rafales took off from a base in northern France, topped off their fuel tanks courtesy of aerial tankers and hit militant targets in a marathon series of raids starting Saturday. More capable but also more complex than the Mirage 2000s, the Rafales were not stationed in Chad prior to the fighting. But reports indicate at least some of the newer jets are at least stopping over in the Chadian capital of N'Djamena after dropping their bombs.

Video: French Ministry of Defense

Eyes in the Sky

Lacking a large drone force, France still relies on manned reconnaissance planes for much of its day-to-day battlefield intel. Two Mirage F.1CRs, older jets fitted with cameras and ground-mapping radars, are normally based alongside the Mirage 2000 bombers in Chad, and have added their eyes in the sky to the small number of UAVs over Mali. The Mirage F1s have been spotted on the ground in Bamako, Mali's capital, indicating the French have moved them closer to the fighting.

Photo: French Ministry of Defense

Flying Gas Can

The French air force possesses just 14 U.S.-built KC-135 tankers to gas up hundreds of warplanes. The refuelers have been instrumental in boosting the range of the Rafale fighters bombing Mali from France, but probably don't have the capacity to handle all the flights to and from Mali. It's for that reason that the Pentagon has specifically mentioned possibly sending additional tankers to support the aerial campaign.

Photo: French Ministry of Defense

Heavy Lifter

Unlike many major powers, France does not possess dedicated, long-range, heavylift aircraft. To get troops, vehicles and equipment into Mali fast, Paris had to get a little help from its friends. Canada offered up one C-17 and the U.K. provided two of the giant airlifters — and the U.S., too, could send C-17s. "One plane will not a mission make," former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy warned. Sure, but the U.S. has hundreds of C-17s. And they could make a big difference.

Video: Royal Air Force

Rent-a-Plane

Even with the borrowed C-17s, Paris still needed outside help getting men and material to Mali. So it turned to one of the unsung heroes of modern logistics: the Antonov An-124, a huge, Russian-made transport operated by private shipping companies. The 190-ton Antonov is one of the backbone planes of the ongoing Afghanistan airlift, and also carried relief supplies to Haiti and Pakistan following earthquakes in those countries. For this giant, an African civil war is just another day at work.

Video: French Ministry of Defense

Nimble Wheels

France's answer to the ubiquitous U.S. Humvee is the Vehicule Blinde Leger, or "light armored vehicle," a four-ton truck with a 95-horsepower engine and enough space to squeeze in four people. Easily transportable by most medium transport planes, the VBL can be fitted with a machine gun, grenade launcher or anti-tank missile. While not as well-protected as a heavier armored vehicle, the VBL is simple, fast and flexible — good qualities for speedy deployments to remote, rugged battlefields. In Mali, French troops were photographed riding into battle in a host of tricked-out VBLs.

Video: French Ministry of Defense

Armored ATV

To keep the force light and mobile, France apparently has not deployed tanks or heavy artillery to Mali. If the ground troops get into a tight spot, they can call on the ERC-90 armored All-Terrain Vehicle and its 90-millimeter cannon. The eight-ton ERC is probably just powerful enough to defeat most rebel defenses. But one French government source expressed surprise at the fighting ability of the insurgents. "What has struck us markedly is how modern their equipment is and their ability to use it," the source said. If the Islamists prove a tougher foe than expected, the ERC-90 might be inadequate. But deploying tanks and artillery would signal a much bigger and potentially bloodier fight than Paris is likely to want.

Photo: French Ministry of Defense

Eyes Above The Sky

The whole world is watching the conflict in Mali unfold — and so are a couple of machines orbiting around the planet. Commercial imaging satellites are snapping pictures of the fight, and providing those shots to governments, news organizations, and aid groups. The picture above was taken on Tuesday by the GeoEye-1 satellite, and shows a building hit by a French airstrike. Below, a pair of tanks sits on a runway in Gao, Mali. Four other tanks wait nearby for their close-up.

Here’s The Thing With Ad Blockers

We get it: Ads aren’t what you’re here for. But ads help us keep the lights on. So, add us to your ad blocker’s whitelist or pay $1 per week for an ad-free version of WIRED. Either way, you are supporting our journalism. We’d really appreciate it.